Shenzhen (China) (AFP)

As Rudy Gobert says, French basketball players will be "in the thick of things" in their first match of the World Cup against Germany on Sunday (14:30 CET) in Shenzhen.

"There will be no warm-up round," warned the best defender of the NBA, who will try to extinguish the German wisp Dennis Schröder, one of his opponents on the US parquets.

"He is very fast and likes to attack the basket, so I will have a big role to play," added the pivot, the great deterrent force of the Blues around the circle from the top of its 217 cm.

Germany is reminiscent of the French, at least those who were there at Euro-2017 when they were eliminated by the "mannschaft" in the knockout stages. That day, they had not mastered the leader of Oklahoma City (who played at the time in Atlanta) in the last quarter.

- Defend and run -

Gobert, precisely, was not in Turkey, and Nicolas Batum either, which gives hope for a defensive shield much less permeable than two years ago. It is in this hope that Vincent Collet, scalded by the failure of Istanbul, built his group by selecting specialists, including a pair of defensive leaders, Andrew Albicy and Frank Ntilikina.

The performance of these two players who lack experience in this kind of competition, the first having not played for eight years and the second contesting its first, will be crucial, especially since they are alone in their position at because of Thomas Heurtel (offensive), injured during the preparation.

"We have no choice, the identity of the team is clearly established, if it does not defend strongly, if it can not play fast and if it is obliged to play only on half-court, it will have difficulties, "said the coach, who admits that his team does not have a big external threat apart from Evan Fournier and Nando De Colo, especially since the injury packages of Heurtel and Adrien Moerman.

Anyway, defend and run, it's the game that made France win all her medals with the Parker generation. The last, in bronze, dates back to Euro-2015.

- Do not put a ball to the foot -

An initial failure against the Germans, who rely on other players of value, including two NBA, Daniel Theis (Boston) and Maximilian Kleber (Dallas), would not eliminate of course the Blues. In 2013, they had lost entry, precisely against Germany, and finished the Euro with the gold medal around their necks. But their podium ambitions would certainly suffer.

"We are forced to win the matches so as not to put a foot in the game, two defeats would be crippling for the qualification in the quarter-finals, and anyway, it would be better to qualify as the first because otherwise it will surely be the United States in quarter, warns the coach, who places Americans in N.1 favorites for the title, despite the absence of all their stars.

After this tough entry, the French will finish their first round in Shenzhen against two opponents of lower level, Jordan (Tuesday) and the Dominican Republic (Thursday). Everything will then be played in the second round in Nanjing, probably against Australia and Lithuania, or in Canada if he is recovering from the defection of his NBA players.

The teams:

France: Andrew Albicy, Frank Ntilikina, Evan Fournier, Nando De Colo, Axel Toupane, Paul Lacombe, Nicolas Batum, Amath M'Baye, Louis Labeyrie, Mathias Lessort, Vincent Poirier, Rudy Gobert.

Germany: Dennis Schröder, Ismet Akpinar, Maodo Lo, Andreas Obst, Robin Benzing, Daniels Barthel, Paul Zipser, Niels Giffey, Maximilian Kleber, Daniel Theis, Johannes Thiemann, Johannes Voigtmann

© 2019 AFP